


Broken Pedestal

by angel1876



Series: The Oncoming Frost [3]
Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Dark Forest (Warriors), Gen, StarClan (Warriors)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 05:59:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17698949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angel1876/pseuds/angel1876
Summary: Sometimes, we are cats, just like you.Sometimes, we are wrong.





	Broken Pedestal

She fully expected a fight.

And if she were in any other situation, she would have fled. She almost did. The muscles in her legs coiled, every strand of fur tingling from nosetip to tail. 

But instead she dug her claws deep into the earth, and forced herself to stand her ground. She bared her teeth, hissing in defiance, but a horrible trembling betrayed her resolve. There was no choice to be made, she couldn't risk running away.

The figure before her twitched an ear, staring her down with all the might of the sky behind her. 

"I'm not here to hurt you."

Nightwhisper shuddered, her ears laying flat against her skull. "Then what _are_ you here for??"

For a moment, the other cat said nothing. Her expression unreadable, a tilt to her head that made the silence seem worse. Starlight twinkled in her fur, her voice soft, her smell warm. Everything about her screamed of safety, the worst kind of lie.

Her tail curled about her legs, a casual stance. Nightwhisper refused to let her guard down in the face of it. 

Finally, the Starclan cat spoke, her words even, calculated. "I'm...here to apologize."

"...apologize?"

"For where you are. For everything that's happened."

Nightwhisper snorted, her tone rising in pitch. Not at all humorous, nor as threatening as she would have liked. Even to her own ears, she sounded small. "Right. You...you expect me to...cut the mouse-dung, tell me what you're really here for!"

"I've heard of your suffering from the warrior ancestors that watch over your clan, and I don't agree with their choices. You didn't deserve their rejection."

That was more than she could take. Nightwhisker took a step back, the fear in her shifting. Venom laced her words. "You don't know what you're taking about."

"I know more than you think."

"I was disloyal to my clan. I turned my back on everything they stood for."

"They turned their back on you first."

Her skin crawled under her fur, bristling out instinctively. She felt things, a painful rush that she'd no hope of finding the words for. Nightwhisker snarled, "Shut up! You don't know anything!"

The other cat came forward. Bright, luminous eyes, like the rustle of grass in new-leaf, the shimmer of water on a nice day. She looks like Silverpelt incarnate. She's everything they always told her of Starclan, and Nightwhisper's anger buckles as the other cat brings her nose within a mouse-length of her own.

"I know what they say of us," she says, her voice unwavering. "And I know what we like to think of ourselves. Tell me, do Dark Forest cats know the weaknesses and fears of every living cat they come across? Do you have knowledge of how to corrupt those around you? Are you anything more than what you were before you died?"

Nightwhisper tried to answer, a half-uttered meow that held no meaning, and she can't think with the other cat so close to her.

The Starclan cat closed the distance, and that fur, so filled with light, pressed into her own. The cat rubbed down her length, pressed her shoulder into her side, curled her tail about Nightwhisper's chest. Starlight seeped into her shadowy form, and the sweet scent overcame everything else, even the bitter taste of dog.

Nightwhisper couldn't find the strength to move.

"We try to offer guidance. We try to be the leaders, we try to tell you the future. But sometimes, we can't. Sometimes, we are cats, just like you. Sometimes, we are wrong. We were wrong. I'm sorry."

A shudder ran down her back, through her tail. For a heartbeat that felt like an eternity, Nightwhisper stood there, trapped in place.

All at once, she pulled away, breaking contact. The Starclan cat's eyes were soft, shimmering.

Nightwhisper turned and fled back into her cave. 


End file.
